Legend
by Two Limes in a Coconut
Summary: She'd heard stories, but never thought it would happen again. She'd been terrified of them. But could these people really be that cruel? The Nothern WaterTribe suffers again.


**Joy forced all her strength and concentration on the small pool of water. She didn't want to let them know what she was doing… the water quivered, casting the aqua light on the wall. She smiled a small smile and concentrated more… with a flick of her hand the water swished. **

**She breathed deeply, focusing… the water swished again, but this time it didn't calm. Instead it rose a few inches, forming into a ball of water that floated in mid-air. **

**Joy jumped up from her seat right in middle of class and yelled, "Yes!" big mistake. **

**She hadn't realized she'd done it until the water in the Sacred Pool splashed from her loss of concentration, and when the teacher glared at her.**

"**Miss Yang, explain yourself." the older woman said, obviously annoyed by the girl's sudden outburst. **

"**I… I…" the girl stuttered glancing at the other children on both side of her. No one offered any help. Figures. **

"**Well?" the woman tapped her fingers on the wooden desk. "Since you obviously cannot come up with a decent excuse, you will report to Master Kati." she said, a satisfied smirk on her face. She wrote out a note and held it out to Joy.**

"**But I…" she started to object but stopped herself. Ms. Jan-Long was **_**not **_**the waterbender to upset. She rarely ever used her bending on students, but if the ticked her off enough, she might just bring out the water whip. "Yes ma'am." she said gloomily and took the note, heading toward the cloth door. **

**Joy Yang. What a stupid name, she would always think. But she'd learned to deal with it. Living in the Northern Water Tribe was a honor, but sometimes she'd longed to travel around and see the world. **

**When she came upon the cloth barrier that was separating her from principal. She hesitated. What would she say? She used the sacred pool to practice water bending? **

**Taking in a deep breathe she pushed the cloth aside. "Master Kati?" she said nervously when she stepped in. The first thing she noticed was the man standing in front of the desk talking to the principal. He stopped abruptly and turned around. **

**Joy became uncomfortable, she'd just interrupted something that was probably important. Even though the Master was the principal of this school, he was also one of the head leaders in the water tribe. Master Kati stood up from his chair and walked around his desk and the man. "Yes what is it Ms. Yang?"**

"**I… uh… Ms. Jan-Long…" **

"**We'll talk later." the man said then walked toward the door. Joy stepped aside and watched him as he passed. ." **

**Joy turned around to look at his face more clearly, but all she found was the clothe door swaying. **

"**So what have you done this time to upset your teacher?" Master Kati asked sitting back down in his chair. **

"**I…" Joy was going to make an excuse but figured she'd better just tell the truth she handed him the note. "I jumped up in middle of class." she said quietly, gazing at the floor. **

**Master Kati gestured for her to sit, not even reading the piece od papar, that was another thing, he always wanted his students to tell him what they did wrong, not the teachers, She turned toward the rows of pillows on the floor. All students in this school sat on the blue pillows for seats. **

"**Why did you disrupt your class?" he asked casually. **

"**I was… excited." she admitted. **

"**About what exactly?" he questioned. She didn't answer. "Did someone say something to you?"**

**"No."**

"**Then tell me why Joy." he said in a demanding tone, though it was calm. **

"**I… I was bending water…" she looked up at him. "From the sacred pool." **

**She lowered her head again, waiting for the yelling to start. Master Kati was very strict about the sacred pool. It was a monument for the great water benders who fought along side the avatar in the final battle, of course this wasn't the only one, there were more here and there but not many.**

**What fascinated her the most about it was that this one was in a school. **_**Her **_**school. **

**When Master Kati didn't respond she looked up, to her surprise he wasn't looking at her. But past her. **

**She looked over her shoulder. There was a woman standing in the doorway. Her hair was loose and messed up in different angles, her clothes were ripped and she had a look of pure terror on her face. **

**Master Kati stood up and rushed over to the door. "What happened?" he asked the woman, placing his hands on her shoulder, as if to shake her. **

"**I…" she stuttered. "They came out of nowhere… my whole patrol… they're…" she shuddered. "Dead." **

**Joy realized the woman was a warrior. They had just recently started allowing woman to fight. She stood up and what the woman just said hit her. **

"**My brother…" she said in a hoarse voice. "He was on patrol today." she hoped so much that this woman wasn't talking about her brother's patrol. **__

**Master Kati ignored her, leading the woman back out into the hall. "Stay here." he ordered Joy before she could follow. She slowly sat back down on the cushion and wrapped her arms around her legs. **

**It couldn't have been Atin's patrol… it just couldn't. **

**Joy was deep in thought… she didn't want to face the cold hard truth that her brother might not come home for dinner. **

**It was then that the screaming started, and right outside the window a light flared up.**

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**Joy was in middle of it all. Her classmates had fled the building and were now swarming the ice streets of the northern water tribe. **

**First thing she saw was the firebenders, Joy was only a thirteen year old girl, she was inexperienced in water bending and had huge fear of fire. How, if ever came the time, could she stand up to one of them?**

**She saw some of the warriors of her tribe running toward the group of firebenders. **

**Joy then realized she was trapped. To her left more firebender were approaching from the main entrance to the city of ice. To her right the first group of firebender were fighting with the warriors. **

**She found that the only way of escape was the icy water before her. On the other side the street was filled with screaming civilians. **

**She didn't want to do it, and just as she turned to run toward the warriors a massive ball of fire whizzed over her, flying into the group of warriors. **

**Joy screamed and fell backwards, slipping on the ice. **

**She was only five feet from the river now. With one last huge gasp of breathe she lunged in. **

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**At first she seemed normal. Then the coldness of the water hit her, her mouth opened and a silent scream went up in bubbles. She choked on the water then relaxed. She had to move, but couldn't, her clothes were thick and weighed her down. She could see the bottom of the river. This river had been made by waterbenders like her. And now she would drown in it. She realized that this was a mistake. She shouldn't have jumped in, she should have tried to fight a way through. But it was to late now.**

**She closed her eyes, and just as she felt herself starting to let go, a hand clasped around her arm. **

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**Joy was pulled from the water. Her whole body shaking in the cold. She coughed up what seemed like a gallon. And when she opened her eyes she gasped. **

**A firebender stood over her. **

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**Joy scooted backwards, away from the firebender. When she suddenly felt nothing bellow her she screamed. She fell backwards. But the firebender was swift and caught her arms, pulling her away from the river. **

"**Let…" she rasped trying to pull away. "Go." **

**But he didn't. **

"**Let go!" she screamed starting to kick, even though she was terrified.**

"**Okay." **

**That surprised her, the firebender released her, stepping back and removing his helmet. **

**Without warning the guy put his helmet back on and pulled her up.**

**She didn't say anything. Was he taking her hostage? She thought about trying to run but realized that was impossible. **

**But she then realized what he was doing. Another brigade of firebenders were marching down the street. **

**The soldier pushed her into an alley way between two houses. "I'm not like them," he whispered, but he wasn't saying it to reassure her, he was saying it, so someone knew. "My name is Loutine, after the firebender, Iroh's, son." he whispered even lower. "Don't forget me like they forgot him… please." then he stepped out onto the street to join the brigade. **

**Joy was shocked, she could even move at first. She was terrified of that boy at first, then she was just shocked. What she didn't know though, was that those were the last words he ever spoke. **

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**Joy ran down the ice streets, taking turns and then running back as more soldiers came into view. **

**Finally she came to the area her home was in. one problem though, her home was by the main entrance. And the main entrance was swarming with firebenders.**

**Everywhere she went a firebender was there. Some escorting captives back to their ship. Why where they taking people?  
**

**Though the whole captive the scared her, the lifeless bodies that were all around made her want to scream.**

**Several times a soldier saw her and ran toward her. But she knew this part of the ice city by heart, and could easily find the smallest spaces to hide. **

**Now she was trying to get to her home, but that was impossible, the only thing she could do was hide and wait. But she didn't want to. She thought about her brother. Was he still alive?**

**Pulling up the courage she dashed across the street to the alleyway over there. Turning left then right she wove through the alleys. Occasionally coming across a soldier and hiding. **

**When she reached the western part of the large ice wall that surrounded their city, she almost cried out in shock. **

**Everywhere there were bodies, lying on the ground. **

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**Joy closed her eyes. She didn't want to open them she didn't. She had recognized one of her brother's friends, lying on the ground. Bright red, purple and black burns covering his body.**

**Joy opened her eyes a crack and started to search among the warriors. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone move. **

**She turned and looked at the wounded warrior that lay six or seven feet away. "No…" she whispered recognizing him at once. "Atin." she whispered, taking a step forward, then running over to him. She dropped to her knees at his side. **

"**Joy?" he asked, a small smile spreading across his face. "You don't even know how happy I am to see you."**

**Joy smiled back, holding the sob that wanted to escape her throat. "I…" she choked. "Your patrol leader said…"**

"**So she escaped?" Atin looked at her hopefully. Joy nodded. "Good." he sighed reaching up and pushing a strand of hair out of his baby sister's face. "Have you found dad and mom?"**

"**No."**

"**I'm sure their okay." his hand fell back down to his side quickly, as if it pained him to even move. **

"**You'll be okay." she said. "I… I can try to heal you." she placed her hand on the ice, trying to turn it back to water. She didn't know how to heal yet, but she could try. A stream of liquid rose from the ice and wrapped around her hands. But they didn't glow like the healer's water did. **

**She concentrated, exhaling deeply. "Please." she whispered. Nothing. **

**Tears streamed down her face. "I can't do it." she sobbed. **

"**It's… okay." her brother rasped, reaching for her hand. "I don't think you could have helped." **

**Joy held onto her brother's hand tight.**

"**I always dreamed of fighting in a war." he whispered.**

"**But you did." she said softly, trying not to pay attention to his bruised hands, not to mention his whole body. **

"**But I dreamed of becoming a legend." he said sadly, then smiled again. "But I'm sure you'll gain that title one day ."**

"**Me?" she asked, a little amused. "Please, I can't even heal my brother when he's hurt… how do you thing I could ever do something great?"**

**Atin looked at her, his eyes piercing through her. "Because you won't be alone."**

"**What do you-?" she stopped and stared at him. "I don't understand…"**

"**I'll be with you all the way." he said. "My strength with become yours, and I'll be their to guide you if you need me." **

"**But I don't want you to leave." she cried, clutching his hand tighter. **

"**I won't…" he whispered closing his eyes. "I'll live inside you Joy, and you'll be my legend." **

**With that, he slipped away.**

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**Joy grew up in slavery, her parents were killed soon after her brother, and she was taken into the fire nation as a slave. She never learned proper water-bending. And even though her brother was always with her she never became a legend. **

**Years later a new fire lord was made. He was a kind compassionate man and his wife was from the water tribe herself, so he set the slaves free.**

**Joy returned home when she was twenty three, married a young warrior, and had two twin boys. There names were; Atin and Loutine. And even though he wasn't remembered by thousands. He was remembered by her.**_** He **_**was a legend in her eyes.**

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**(Okay so I hope I spelled Loutine right… I'm not sure, but the whole reason I wrote this was to say that the enemy isn't as evil as you think) (Stupid I know, but oh well) (Review, no flames please) **


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